English Films Essay Example for Free

English Films Essay It was an unpromising period for the British film industry, the World War II (WWI). With its outburst on the third of September 1939, â€Å"all cinemas in Britain, along with other such venues as theatres and sports arenas, were closed† 5. However, when the cinemas reopened and the films started to reproduce, some of the notable works were that of McAllister and Jennings. McAllister was viewed to have â€Å"symbolic† approach while Jennings was â€Å"articulating a robust Socialist patriotism, a full-blooded love of England and the English centred on an unashamed admiration for the qualities of the common man, 6 a very suitable theme during those periods. During the phase approaching 1960s however, English films portraying the â€Å"English working life† 7 in a realistic approach started some production and popularity. Currently, what suits the public and what satisfies them are films related to society, politics and culture: the three common aspects of humanity where anyone can almost relate with. One satirical and famous English celebrity for this is Mike Leigh. What does the aforementioned themes in the film production suggest? This means that a film must coincide with events and societal demands as well as the requirements of regulatory bodies behind it. At present in Great Britain, English films must be approved by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) which is an independent, non-governmental body responsible for classification of cinema films beginning 1912 and the regulation of videos since the Video Recordings Act passage in 1984 8. Some of the rules administered by the Board is to ensure that violence, crime, foul nature, criminal behaviour, illegal drugs, horror and sex, as well as videos teaching criminal techniques in the films are closely examined and must not be shown to inappropriate audiences, especially to the children as mandated by various legislations the likes of Obscene Publications Act or the Protection of Children Act 9. In the past three years, 2005 until last year, the Board has made seven, ten and five cuts, respectively, on all the movies that passed through the inspection. 10 Aside from the previously mentioned set of rules and regulations for the films, another thing that must be well thought-out before producing films are the subjects that the national government is promoting and supporting, or, in another case, what that government is banning. This is obvious as what the government wants (or does not want) to be shown in public, thus they subsidize and/or reduce taxes for some films while others are not shown at all. In fact, government tactics in film propaganda was already rampant since the WWII to support what they want to convey such as the production in 1941 of â€Å"The Big Blockade, a feature-length propaganda film dramatizing the activities of the Ministry of Economic Warfare (MEW),† 11 a peculiar film, mixing stylized reconstructions of life in Europe, newsreel, and a barrage of information on the vital importance of MEW, At present the British government has the UK Film Council to support the production of films the government encourages. There are eight kinds of funds available for the program such as development fund, new cinema, festival, international festival sales and support, premiere, prints and advertising, short film completion and film publication fund. 12 In a way to promote the national lottery together with the films it funds, the UK Film council was created and it is funded from national lottery funds. It is currently the richest funding film body with approximately 38 million sterling pounds in budget. 13

Citizen of the United States Essay Example for Free

Citizen of the United States Essay I would define a citizen as someone, who was born in, or to a certain place, who is guaranteed certain rights in the place that they were born in. Citizenship in the United States means that a person is a legally recognized member of the nation. Each citizen has equal rights under the law. All citizens have certain rights, privileges, and responsibilities. Americans who are not citizens have many of the same rights, privileges, and responsibilities of citizens. However, they do not have such important rights as the right to vote in elections, serve on juries, or hold elected office. Means that a person is recognized as a legal member of the nation  gives each person certain rights and privileges, e.g., the right to vote and to hold public office  means each person has certain responsibilities, e.g., respecting the law, voting, paying taxes, serving on juries  explain that citizens owe allegiance or loyalty to the United States; in turn they receive protection and other services from the government Nothing is more important to America than citizenship; there is more assurance of our future in the individual character of our citizens than in any proposal I, and all the wise advisers I can gather, can ever put into effect in Washington. Warren G. Harding (1920) Rights of individuals. Citizens have rights.  personal rights, e.g., to associate with whomever one pleases, live where one  chooses, practice the religion of ones choice, travel freely and return to the United States, emigrate  political rights, e.g., to vote, speak freely and criticize the government, join organizations that try to influence government policies, join a political party, seek and hold public office  economic rights, e.g., to own property, choose ones work, change employment, join a labor union, establish a business  Citizens not only must be aware of their rights, they must also exercise them responsibly and they must fulfill those responsibilities necessary to a self-governing, free, and just society. No governmental action, no economic doctrine, no economic plan or project can replace that God-imposed responsibility of the individual man and woman to their neighbors. Herbert Hoover (1931) Citizens have rights. personal responsibilities, e.g., taking care of themselves, accepting responsibility for the consequences of their actions, taking advantage of the opportunity to be educated, supporting their families civic responsibilities, e.g., obeying the law, respecting the rights of others, being informed and attentive to the needs of their community, paying attention to how well their elected leaders are doing their jobs, communicating with their representatives in their school, local, state, and national governments, voting, paying taxes, serving on juries, serving in the armed forces

Importance Of Motivation For Organizational Success

Importance Of Motivation For Organizational Success Related to the magnificent changes that have happened in technology that leads the world towards Common denominators, and a diversified change happened in the world economic extension. The main economic change that result the most challenge not only for the domestic organizations but also for the multinational one is the up growth of the universal market. In order to be successful in long term business handling employees is one of the most critical equipments for a universal business to compete with others especially for multinational organizations. From here it raze the importance of the HRM (Human Resources Management) as necessary process to handle the complexity requests and needs of those multinational overseas organizations and to differentiate those successful organizations from each other. The core business of the human resources management is to attract the talents from the markets, help the organizations to achieve their goals through retaining the organizational talented employees and improve the employees performance through different motivational tools. From here the organizations started to understand that inspiring employees motivation needs more than the old tactic of carrot and stick. Today organizations need to understand the needs and advices of their employees and start to submit rewarding systems that can match those needs. To increase the level of motivation to improve the performance of individuals the organizations started to make rewarding systems that can works on the Intrinsic and extrinsic needs of the employees as employees differ as individuals from one to another. Some employees may be in need of extra wages or incentive and the others may need more responsibilities or opportunities to growth. Accordingly, motivating staff is part of an employers responsibility to attract and retain employees. The motivation process will help maximize the ability of human resource and develop sustainable management strategies for the organization seeking success and longevity. This research will introduce the many factors and provide answers to the questions that affect employee motivation as follow: What employees look forward to gain from their job Intrinsic and Extrinsic, How leadership style affect the employees and the whole organization motivation, The Effective techniques to reward employees, The importance of creating a supportive workplace, The role of open communication in maintaining motivation spirit inside the organizations, How to handle the demotivated employees, How to keep motivation spirit inside the organization. Importance of motivation in todays workplace environment The most important challenges that are facing the employers are two, the first one is how to motivate the employees to work achieve the organization goals and the second one is how to meet the needs of the employees to keep them motivated. Meeting the goals and achieving the organizational goals are both the most difficult factors facing any managers and they become more and more complex with the huge changes that has happened in todays technology and economics that leads to more and more changes in employees needs. : Importance of motivation for organizational success What is Motivation? How it effects the workplace environment? And why is it important for both employers and employees? These are the main questions that need to be handled as indicated below. Motivation is a management style of operating attitude based on the knowledge of what make people act and achieve it starts with physiological needs that turn on employees behavior, Luthans (1998) confirmed that motivation is the operation that wake up, energize, command, and reinforce the employees performance and behavior. Daft (1997) indicates that motivation refers to the power even intrinsic or extrinsic to the employees that trigger eagerness and assertiveness to pursue a specific course of action. Motivation could be defined as the interesting to spend high level of efforts and persistence towards the organizational goals conditioned by this high performance the ability to satisfy the employees desires and needs (Stephen, 2000). Decenzo (2001) define motivation as a result of interaction between the individual employees and the status, employees differ in the motivation drive, but the employees motivation changes from status to status and from place to another. Motivation is the willing to spend high level of work effort to allow the organization to reach its goals, conditioned by the ability of the organization to satisfy some individual needs of the employees Robbins, et al .(2001). Motivation defined related to the dictionary Websters something inside people that causes them to action and that this motivation is different from one to another. While the new Merriam-Webster dictionary defined it as a need that makes a person work and achieve. There are key words that can conclude the definition of motivation such as behavior, process, attitude, physiological needs, management style, energize, performance, needs, individuals, aim, goals, drives, some of the researchers like Luthans )1998) and Evans (1998) agreed that the motivation starts from the behavior and it is management process starts with physiological shortage that stimulate employees behavior towards a desired incentive. And to understand this motivation process everyone has to understand those three key words needs, motives and rewards. Daft, (1997) and Decenzo (2001) agreed that motivation is a result of interaction between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and it differs from status to status and from individual to another. While Stephen (2000) and Robbins, et al (2001) agreed that motivation is the willing to spend high level of work effort to allow the organization to reach its goals, conditioned by the ability to satisfy the employees needs. Understanding the meaning of the work place environment expression is very important as it effects the employee performance and motivation in direct way, The work place environment is like the iceberg the apparent part of it is the physical one that can be identified as the place that one works in an office building or from home, the air quality, decoration, equipment, and the safety measures while the hidden part which is the most important and it reflects about 80% of the work environment is the culture, values, believes, relation between employees and the employer, all those factors effect directly the employees motivation. Approaches theories for understanding employees motivation Motivation theories provides a way to understand the employees and human behaviors in different situations and status, and it gives attention to know what is the main factors and drivers that effects employees performance and increase the level of commitment and achievements, it also takes care of knowing what is the employees and human needs and how to satisfy those needs. Maslows Needs Hierarchy Maslow (1954) an American professor of psychology he arranges the human needs in a hierarchy pyramids starts with the physiological needs which is the basic needs and ends with the self-actualization. Maslow confirmed in his theory that once you fulfill the basic level of his hierarchy you can move to the upper one until you reach the top of the pyramids (figure 1). The five levels in Maslows Hierarchy are, (1)Physiological needs- the basic needs of employees which is comfortable workplace, fresh air, healthy food, main physical tools that allow the employee to finalize his day to day work. (2) Safety needs- rules that can keep secure employees safety such as life insurance and medical insurance, affording rules against harassment and violence, fair salary and incentive schema.(3) Belonging and affection needs- social needs, by affording the ability to work in groups, team building activities inside the organization. (4) Esteem needs- Ego/status the ability to be promoted, adding employees to talent of pool employees inside the organization, getting the opinion of the employees in company decisions. (5) Self-actualization- Special assignments to employees to allow them to show themselves against the others and to gain more personal and professional experience, giving more responsibilities in decision making and in handling other employees and ta sks inside the organization. Maslow indicates that the satisfaction progression allows the employees and humans to move from one level to another, which is not the case in practice as some employees can move from one level to any level else based on his capabilities and his level of maturity and not in that systematic way. Alderfers ERG Theory Alderfer condensed Maslows five needs hierarchy into three levels only: Existence needs- include all physical and safety desires, he merge the first two needs of Maslows hierarchy into one level. Relatedness needs- which show the belonging and affection needs of Maslow. Growth needs- which include esteem needs and the self-actualization in one level (figure 2). Alderfer also submit the Frustration-regression principle, which suppose that the employee can move in and out of the different levels based on if their needs have been done or not which is more logical than Maslows theory. Alderfer theory priorities the needs level based on the realistic, existence needs is the most realistic and the Growth needs is the low realistic as it based on the special capabilities of each employee. Herzberg Theory of Factors Frederick Irving Herzberg an American psychologist he adjusted Maslows needs theory and reached two areas of needs that motivated employees and those two areas are shown in (figure 3) as follow: Hygiene which includes the factors that leads to job dissatisfaction and this shows the lower level of motivators that include pay, work conditions, supervision and how the business is run. Motivators which include the factors that lead to motivation in the workplace and this show the higher level of motivators that include responsibilities, the nature of the work, recognition and achievements. Herzberg theory is very easy one that shows that the employees desires and needs is more than that on the hygiene level but the motivators in workplace is more important than the physical needs. McClellands Acquired Needs Theory McClellands build his theory in that the employees needs is not a natural or inherent but it is obtained learned and improved based on the experience that employee gained during life experiences and the three types of needs in this theory are shown in (figure 4): The first indicates the need of achievement- the n-ach employee is achievement motivated that needs challenging realistic goals, always willing to success, they prefer to work as an individual or with another high achievers employees and asking for feedback regarding their work progress. The second one is the need of affiliation- the n-affil person is belonging motivated that needs to belong to a team, like the cooperation environment than the challenging and competition one. The third one is the need of power- The n-pow person is authority motivated, want always to win and to control over things, enjoy emulation and wining. All the above theories have explained the human and employees motivators and how to motivate employees based on their needs and desires from different perspective. McClellands concept of achievement motivation is relative to Herzbergs motivation-hygiene theory, people with achievement motivation resort to be interested in the motivators. The motivation theories also furnished a ways and tools to understand and deal with employees behaviors in different situations. No theory of the above is suitable for all employees or for all situations as each employee has his own values, believes and capabilities and the reaction of each employee will differ from another based on the organizational tools submitted to increase the level of motivation of its employees. Motivation Framework Model Motivation framework Model consists of the rewarding systems; extrinsic rewards systems that cover the physical rewards that come outside the job and the other is intrinsic rewards system that reflects the personal satisfaction that comes from the job itself ( figure 5). And it covers leadership style and develop communication process. Extrinsic rewarding system Extrinsic rewards come from a source outside the job, mainly by management; extrinsic rewards are physical and material rewards they are divided into financial and non-financial type of rewards. The financial extrinsic rewards are divided into three main categories: The first one is performance based- such as bonus, commission, incentive plans and merit pay plans. The second one is implied membership-based- such as cost of living increase, labor market adjustment and profit sharing. The third is the explicit membership-based- such as protection programs, pay for time not worked and services perks. While the non financial extrinsic rewards that make life on the job more attractive are for example: Business cards, assigned parking space, own secretary and impressive titles. The role of the extrinsic rewards yes is important but it becomes to shrink nowadays after the huge change that has happened in transferring of data and information technology and increasing the complexity of handling business after merges and accusations that has happened in both multinationals and domestic organizations that leads to huge change in the world economical situations. Intrinsic rewarding system Intrinsic rewards reflect the personal satisfaction that comes from the job itself, the intrinsic rewards is more intangible and it is working mainly on the individuals and how they feel about their organizations and their job. There many types of intrinsic rewards such as: (1) Participation in decision making, (2) Greater job freedom, (3) More responsibility, (4) Opportunities for growth, (5) Diversity of activities. The intrinsic rewards appears to create a winwin equation for both employers and employees and it does not depend on more financial rewards to gain more performance achievements and it becomes more convenient when resources are scarce. Leadership Style Leadership style plays a vital role on workplace motivation; these styles may leads to very positive effect or very negative effect according to the leadership style that managers and leaders within organization use, and these styles may even vary from department to another within the same organization. The following characteristics are essential triggers to measure the leadership style: A. Leader Vision: If the number one factor that inspires employee motivation is a manager with vision, so the biggest challenge as a manager is to figure out a clear-convey to employees a clear vision of what Manager hope organization, division, department, or team will achieve, Then enabling employees to live out that vision by helping those set objectives, or strategic imperatives. When employees fully understand where their organization is headed and what their role is in meeting that goal, they are far more motivated than employees who are left in the dark. Organizations that have a clear, well written, and well communicated vision or mission statement that describes their ultimate goals has a higher chance to achieve its strategic objectives. It is also very important that all departments within all organizations articulate a vision for their own department and convey it to department team; and this vision will be very efficient when employees input are welcomed and treated with respect toward achieving this vision. B. Creating and Setting Strategic Imperatives: Employees should have individual strategic imperatives that will contribute to reaching departments overall vision. Get all employees involved in the process, not only in creating their own objectives, but in developing objectives for the department. Departments overall goal should already be evident or at least outlined departments Manager. It never hurts to remind staff members of the goals if Manager hasnt done so lately. Its hard for employees to remain inspired when they have no specific and clear goals. Organizational and departmental mission statements are good motivational starting points, but to keep and maintain such motivation, Managers are in need to set objectives, or strategic imperatives, for department and individual employees. Strategic imperatives are limited, specific goals that we can complete and measure. Employee who are willingly to take on more responsibilities, need their manager to Support their ongoing motivation by making their objectives extended to the others. Manager need to Explain to employees that though there is a defined list of strategic imperatives, if they see another item that needs to be included, by all means manager need to add it. Most importantly, managers must reward those employees for their strategic vision and the extra work they do. C. Recognition: Leaders must think positively toward their subordinates, so Leader need to be able to create more ideas when introduces some of his objectives on areas that are already successful. Plus, its fulfilling for employees that have good leader ship style be reminded of the things they have done well. Employees will be much more motivated to meet their strategic imperatives if they know that their work will be appreciated and recognized. That means that Managers or Leaders needs a way to measure their productivity and achievements. Praising is one of the most influential tools that leaders use to get the most and impressing ideas and innovative from employees. D. Creating Job Measures: Job measures provide a way to quantify employees improvement in meeting their strategic imperatives. Job measures should relate to the type of strategic imperatives that Manager and an employee have agreed upon. Here are a few variables leader might take in consideration when quantifying the job of his employee: first one is Timeliness- The number of times deadlines are met and the reasons why deadlines are missed. The second is Accuracy- The ability of employees to perform without mistake. And the third is Following procedures- The ability of employees to follow guide lines, policies and standard procedures in their work. To help employees get the most from performance measurement, leader need to keep these guidelines in mind: Encourage employees to believe on the measurement as a way to promote self-growth, not as a way for Manager to check up on them. Communicate measurement results when it will help to do so. Make sure that Manager are always measuring processes, and not assessing the value of people. Measure processes related to own position too. Some employees have a strong level of self-motivation; so Continuous Improvement can be an important part of managers drive to help them succeed and achieve outstanding results. The following are some guidelines to help Manager or leader Support employee motivation to maintain high quality: Manager or leader need to emphasize and confirm that every employee is a link in the quality chain. If one link breaks, the chain breaks. Leader need to Help employees recognize that quality rests not only on the performance of the entire group but also on the performance of each employee. Manager or leader need to allow each employee to refuse everyone when she or he knows something is not top quality. Quality needs to be the ultimate authority. Manager or leader need to Respect employees judgment and give them both responsibility and authority. Authority without responsibility is dangerous, but together they provide the essential support for accountability and motivation. Manager or leader need to make results measurable and transmitted those results so that everyone can see progress. Manager or leader need to make quality part of the operation even when its difficult. The test of a real quality organization is its qualification to maintain high standards under pressure. People who have difficulty maintaining their motivation over a long period of time are not suitable for an organization practicing Continuous Improvement, total Quality Management isnt a project that starts today and is finished tomorrow, it is a continues process. Employees are inspired by values as well as vision. Practicing values, such as honesty, transparence, respect and fairness, will not only inspire employees, but it will also reinforce them to use the same values when dealing with internal and external stakeholders. Communication Process The communication is one of the essentials elements for any motivation process and it has a very big effect on the success or failure of motivation, and to assure getting the most positive effect of communication there are a lot of considerations as follows: A. Maintaining Open Communication: Maintaining open communication with employees helps inspire and maintain their motivation. But open communication means more than just accelerating employees meeting or a good word from managers; open communication includes a number of factors: Communicating regularly with employees in ways that meet their needs, visiting employees in their work areas, listening to employee concerns and accepting constructive feedback from employees. B. Communicating Regularly-and Appropriately: When Employees use certain expressions such as I dont know, I just work here. this must be considered as a clue that something wrong, as When employees feel eliminated and ignored, they often believe that their contribution to the organization did not recognize, which impede their motivation. Manager can support high motivation by communicating regularly with employees and by adjusting communication to meet their needs. Communication in todays workplace should be easy. No matter you are working on the same building, same city, same country or even same continent as the technology development reached levels that one cannot imagine. C. Visiting Employees Work Areas: It is very important for managers to get to know and understand their employees in order to be able to offer them effective rewards and reinforcement, the fact that a manager need to spend some time with employees in their own work areas to allow them to understand and inspire motivation on them. One work situation that shows a real communication challenge for the manager is the telecommuting employee. Managers have not to ignore or miss those employees the improvement of the technology and telecommunication since has solved this problem as manager can meet those employees through webinars, video calls, e-mails, and managers can also allow those employees at certain period of time to visit the organization Head Quarter (HQ) as a sign of appreciation and showing interest on him. D. Listen to Employee Concerns and accepting Constructive Feedback: Communication with employees must be a two ways communication, managers have to accept the constructive feedback from their employees and to practice the active listening style when communicating with their employees, to improve their active listening there are some strategies that can help in that: Managers have to pay attention and show interest when employees speak with them, Managers have to provide communication alternatives, seek clarification, give feedback, and summarize employee comments, Managers have to respond to employees ideas and opinions, without attacking verbally or putting them down, to respond honestly and openly, and to treat employees the same way they want to be treated and Managers have to show employees that they can trust them by avoiding making assumptions, listen to the full feedback or opinion without interfering with their own comments. E. Shows Respect: When Manager are paying attention and making efforts in developing open communication with their employees, they start to feel that their point of view have been respected and that their contribution in business are appreciated. When employees know that they are the first one to know what is going inside their organization and their department and they are apple to participate by their ideas and opinion in decision making they believe that their work is valued, and this helps build their motivation. Towards successful motivational framework à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. Maintaining Effective Work Environment Managers have to support their employees who believe in their jobs and have high sense of motivation by creating a work environment in which employees feel appreciated, deputized and empowered. Two ways that can be used to create such type of positive and effective work environment: (1) Broadcast positive reinforcement- There are three basic types of reinforcement Positive, negative and punishment. Positive reinforcement given when managers rewards positive employee behavior or attitude with a positive reaction, while negative reinforcement given when manager rewards positive employee behavior or attitude by not carrying through on a negative response. The management uses the punishment when they meet negative attitude or behavior with negative reaction. Managers has to know the best type of positive reinforcement that can work efficiently with their employees as the motive changes from employee to another, and the only way to allow any manager to use this tool efficiently is to deal with his employees as individuals and this needs a lot of time from managers to spend with his employees to know them deeply and this is positive reinforcement by itself. (2) Create a friendly organizational culture- Besides working with employees as individuals managers have to spread a friendly work environment culture within their departments to increase the level of motivation, loyalty and team work culture, such as offering flexibility working hours, respecting diversity of workforce, opportunities for education and training courses, and some social exercises outside work. Handling Demotivated Employees Motivated employees are critical for the success of any organization, but a lot of managers are struggling to handle their demotivated employees, the problem of the demtivated employees in any organization is not only on them but also on the negative atmosphere that they spread inside the organization that for sure will have an impact of the motivation of the others. Sometimes the reason behind employee demotivation and poor performing is not related to the quality of the employee itself but to some other factors that effects his behavior and attitude, some of those reasons me be from outside work and the others are related to the job itself. Here is some reasons related to the job that can make the employee demotivated: If employees feel uncertainty related to stay in the same job or doing the same work for a long period without any increase in his responsibility or getting more empowerment that will him to lose the sense of achievement, If managers expectation for performance is so exaggerated that the employee cannot achieve it, If the employee did not have the enough skills that can help him to meet the expected performance. If the employee time is fully used in his current job and did not have much more time to spend in extra responsibilities, If the rewarding system inside the organization is not fair enough, If the rewarding system inside the organization can not fit the diversity of the experience and talented employees. The best way to determine the reason behind the poor performance is to have open discussion with the employee regarding his problem, and the manager has to be able to accept the unexpected feedback from his employee as the problem may be related to the leader ship style of the management. If the employee is consistently unable to meet performance standards for whatever reason will not allow the other team members to meet their goals and will decrease their motivation so it is the time to get red of such employee. Conclusion ( Must answer the introduction questions and complete it ) Related to the globalization that has happened during the last few years this requests high performance organizations and employees, the dilemma that there is a shortage of qualified employees and many business opportunities, this what makes the motivation systems a very hot topic inside the organizations as they are in need to extract the talented employees from market and at the same time keep the current high talented employees inside the organization. The second problem is that motivation is an internal factor and its benefit appears after a long period, and the needs of the employees are growing. The efficient development organizations and its management have to make feasibility studies about motivation types, the impact of it on employees performance and execution, and motivation sensitivity towards different external and internal stimulations. Organizations has to understand that they are handling humans, and those employees are the most important assets they own, and that motivation participation is to get the employees to do something because they want to do it, no business or job can be done without knowing or offering to the employees what they are in need of. The rewarding systems are extrinsic come from a source outside the job, mainly by management and they are mostly financial rewards, while intrinsic rewards reflect the personal satisfaction that comes from the job itself and are working more on individual needs and target mostly the talented people and they are not financial rewards. Organizations has to use the most suitable motivational programs intrinsic or extrinsic and to focus more during the next period on the intrinsic rewarding systems as it appears to create a winwin equation for both organizations and employees and it does not depend on more financial rewards to gain more performance and achievements and it becomes more convenient when resources are scarce. Based on the findings of this research, the following recommendations are made; Organizations should design developmental programs to increase its employees motivation in order to reduce their turnover, Organizations has to submit motivational programs that can retain their talented employees such as talent pool programs and career path programs, Organizations have to use fair rewarding systems to increase the level of motivation of their employees, Maintaining Open Communication and accepting constructive feedback from employees, Motivation on the job should not be restricted to extrinsic rewards only, but also intrinsic rewards, Organizations have to use employees Satisfactory Surveys (ESS) to measure the level of satisfaction and motivation of its employees.

Front Office Department Yield Management

Front Office Department Yield Management Chapter 1 Introduction The purpose of this chapter is to give an overview of the Front Office department and the yield management. The term Front Office was introduced in the US, but now used in worldwide. Front Office is divided into sub-departments namely reception, concierge, switchboard, bellboys, reservations and guest relations. Nevertheless, as hotels vary in size and type, some of these sub-departments may not be present. Despite the size or the type of the establishment, the department is in many ways the nerves of the hotel. One reason for this is that the sale of rooms generates more than 50 per cent of revenue and profit of a hotel, thus it is compulsory that Front Office department maximize its sales. For instance it might be through the switchboard, in the process of making reservation over the telephone, by entering the hotel to check-in or to make an inquiry. It clearly depicts that Front Office is a strong marketing tool that generates business for a hotel through guests registration. It i s the center for guest activity. Front Office is in fact a hotel department where guests check-in, request information about services that the hotel provides and at the end of their stay they settle their bills and check-out. The Front Office as well generates profit or revenue indirectly, for other departments such as restaurant bookings and up-selling of the hotel in general. Normally, up-selling is done by the team members to increase profit by offering other services to the guests. When guests inquire about those services then it is an opportunity for the staffs to persuade them to purchase these facilities. It is important that the department sets goals and objectives to be able to manage and control yield management so as to maximize sales revenue. The Front Office should however have its own mission statement for a successful management system. Aim: Planning and evaluating Front Office yield management for a better revenue management and for the success of the department Objectives: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Proposing a solution for an effective communication and how to eliminate all barriers à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Understanding the purpose of yield management and how to plan, manage and organize in the Front Office department à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Investigating the link between Front Office Operations and yield management: how it contributes in the department à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Implementing yield management in Front Office department à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Making Front Office department successful in controlling and calculating revenue obtaining from up-selling Problem Statement: There is an increase in communication barriers interdepartmentally concerning sales revenue. Messages are not passed accordingly to right person, to the right place and at the right time. It is noticed that employees are not convince to do up-selling owing to lack of training facilities and procedures. Thus, expectations are not met which results to a low revenue. The fact that there is misunderstanding, conflicts may arise among staffs and supervisors to make decision on how to increase sales. The time scale does not allow the employees to properly plan, organise and implement their task if managers do not set objectives and guidelines. Finally, owing to a miscalculation or a decrease in revenue and sales, it minimizes the profits. In general, team members do not take their planning of task into consideration thus result to ineffective, inefficiently and less productive. Updated information is not usually circulated. Thus, outdated data is given to guests concerning the selling price of the products and services at the hotel. If there has been carelessness, guests get compensation, for instance a dinner free of charge on the beach. In somehow, reducing the revenue and sales. Chapter 2 Front Office department Front Office department is one of the departments within the rooms division. It is the heart center of the hotel and is the most revenue generating. Front Office is a noticeable department in a hotel with the greatest amount of guest contact and highly people orientated. It is designed as the first lasting impression. The front office functions can be divided into six general areas: 1. Reception 2. Guest Relations 3. Bell service 4. Mail and information / Reservation 5. Concierge 6. Cashiers and night auditors Front Office Structure A hotels size and objectives determine the organizational structure of the Front Office. (Abbott,P. and Lewry, S. 1993) A table of Front Office structures is shown below. [Drawing]Front Office Manager [Drawing] Assistant Front Office Manager [Drawing][Drawing][Drawing][Drawing][Drawing][Drawing][Drawing][Text Wrapping Break] [Text Box][Text Box] [Drawing]Reservation Manager [Drawing][Text Box] [Drawing][Drawing][Drawing][Drawing] [Text Box][Text Box][Text Box][Text Box][Text Box] [Drawing] [Text Box] Planning and evaluating operations There are seven management functions that have to be considered when planning and evaluating operations. These points are as follows: 1.Planning 2.Organising 3.Coordinating 4.Staffing 5.Leading 6.Controlling 7.Evaluating Planning Planning is an essential function in the success of different office operations. It is a procedure of setting objectives, developing plans and outlining tasks and schedules to accomplish the goals targeted. An effective strategic planning is done for the contribution of a successful operation and to maintain higher or constant revenue in the Front Office operation. At the stage of planning, the Front Office manager determines the departments goals and objectives. Therefore, the Front Office manager uses these goals as a guide for planning most specific and measurable objectives. Finally, through these goals, the front office manager determines the strategies and procedures to reach these objectives. These aims will thus discuss to the Front Office staffs so as to plan and organise their task efficiently for the success of the department. Organising After setting the objectives, the Front Office manager organised the work to be done through dividing it among Front Office staffs. When organising the tasks, the work is distributed properly and is to be completed in a given period of time. Coordinating Coordination and team spirit are vital. It involves togetherness and using the available resources to attain planned goals. Staffing The right persons and experienced ones are recruited. It is important to introduce training to the employees for a better success of the department. Leading Leading involves supervising, motivating, training, disciplining and setting an example for the Front Office department. Leading is important to maintain the effectiveness of the tasks. Controlling Through controlling, it ensures that the concrete outcomes of operations closely match the plan results. Leading and controlling of task are mostly the duties of the supervisors. Evaluating Through evaluating, it determines the extent to which planed goals and objectives are actually attained. Furthermore, it involves appraising and when necessary reviewing or helping to revise Front Office goals. Moreover, to maintain the successful of the department, every task are planned in advance. The room allocations for arrival of guests are well planned. Before the arrival of guests, the registration card which is a legal form is prepared on the eve of the day as well as concerning the hotel information sheets. The cold towels and the cocktail juice are also prepared in the evening for the arrival of guests on the following day. The departure and arrival check list are prepared one day before. If there are any group arrivals, a planning is done on how to do the check-in. A daily event record is prepared every evening by the Guest Relation Officers; showing all detailed information about arrivals and departures of guests including total guests- in- house. A daily event report is shown in the annex. If there is any early arrival, then, the housekeeping department has to be advised to prepare the room earlier. Establishing room rates The Front Office manager allocates to each room category a rack rate. In fact, the Front Liners are expected to sell rooms at rate unless a guest qualifies for an alternative room rate for example airline rate, commercial rate, group rate, day rate, package plan rate, complimentary rate, cooperate rate, promotional rate, incentive rate or family rate. While establishing room rates management has to consider its operating cost, inflationary factors and competitions. In general, there are three well-known approaches to pricing room: 1)Market condition approach 2)Ruled-of-thumb approach 3)Hubbart formula approach Market condition approach Under this approach management look at comparable hotels in the geographical market to verify the prices charging for the same products. Thus, charge only what the market will accept. In contrary, this approach is endangered to some drawbacks as it does not take into account the value of the property and the strong sales effort to accomplish. Ruled-of-thumb approach In this approach, the rate of a room is à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1 for each à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1000 of construction and furnishing cost per room, assuming a 70% occupancy rate. However, this approach does not consider the inflation term, the contribution of other facilities and services towards the hotels desired profitability. The Front Office manager must stay in contact with the General Manager and controller to monitor room rate effectiveness. Hubbart formula approach This approach considers operating costs, desired profits and expected number of rooms sold, that is, demand. Generally, this approach lays emphasis on the factors such as operating expenses, desired Return on Investment (ROI) and income from different departments in the hotel; to establish room rates. This method relies on the Front Office to produce income to cover operating expenses, overhead and ROI for the hotel operation. According to Hubbart formula approach, the procedure of calculating a room rate is shown below: i.Measuring the hotels anticipated profit by multiplying the desired rate of return (ROI) by the holders investment. ii.Measuring pre-tax profits by dividing the anticipated profit by 1 minus hotels tax rate. iii.Measuring fixed charges and management fees. This calculation includes estimating depreciation, interest expense, property taxes, insurances, amortization, building mortgage, land, rent and management fees. iv.Measuring undistributed operating expenses. This includes estimating administrative and general expenses and energy costs. v.Assessing non-room operating department income or loss, that is, Food and Beverages department income or loss, telephone department income or loss. vi.Measuring the required room department income which is the sum of pre-tax profits, operating department losses less other department incomes. vii.Determining the room department revenue which is the required room department income, plus other room department direct expenses of payroll and related expenses. viii.Measuring the average room rate by dividing rooms department revenue by the expected number of rooms to be sold. These methods are guidelines only. Room rates must frequently monitored with regard to market conditions of demand and supply. Furthermore, some more formulae are depicted below: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Doubles sold daily = double occupancy rate x total number of rooms x occupancy% à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Singles sold daily = rooms sold daily number of double rooms sold daily à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Singles sold daily x X + doubles sold daily x (X + Y) = (average room rate) x (total number of rooms sold daily) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Whereby: X = price of singles; Y = price differential between singles and doubles; X+Y = price of doubles. Forecasting Room Availability: Forecasting room availability is to predict the number of rooms available for sale on forthcoming date. The kind of forecasting helps to manage the reservation process, guides the Front Liners for an effective rooms management and is used as occupancy forecast. Therefore, it is useful in attempting and to roster the essential number of staffs for a planned size of a department. In order to predict room availability, the following information is needed à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Number of expected room arrivals/ check-ins à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Number of expected room no-shows à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Number of expected room walk-ins à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Number of expected room stayovers à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Number of expected room overstays à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Number of expected room check-outs à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Number of expected room understays The above mentioned information helps the Front Liners to conduct various daily operational ratios. The formulae to calculate No-show percentage, Walk-ins percentage, Overstays percentage and Understays percentage are as follows: i.No-shows percentage = (Number of no-show rooms) divided by (Number of rooms reserved) ii.Walk-ins percentage = (Number of walk-in rooms) divided by (Sum of the number of rooms arrivals) iii.Overstays percentage = (Number of overstay rooms) divided by (Number of expected check-outs) iv.Understays percentage = (Number of understay rooms) divided by (Number of expected check-outs) The predicted number of rooms available for sale for upcoming date can be likely successful by using the formula shown below: Forecasted number of rooms available for sale = Total number of guests rooms -Number of out of order rooms Number of stayovers rooms Number of reserved rooms + Number of no-show rooms + Number of understay rooms Number of overstay rooms Under non-automated and semi-automated systems, total of rooms available for sale forecasts are measured upon demands and needs which vary from three-day to ten-day forecasts. Nevertheless, under fully automated systems, forecasts are done at any instant for imminent period of time. For instance, on opera system, room forecasts are already registered and considered, thus eliminating monotonous labour work and human error margins. Budgeting for Operations Hotels have to prepare annual budgets, which are profit plans that address all revenue sources and expense items for the next calendar year. Furthermore, the hotel annual operating budget represents against which management can evaluate actual outcomes of operations. In the twelve-monthly budget preparation process, close coordination efforts of all management personnel are essential. The annual operation of a hotel budget is generally divided into monthly plans which in turn divided into weekly and even daily plans for a better control over the current consequences. In addition, while preparing the Front Office department annual budget, the Front Office manager has to coordinate with the financial department to estimate only rooms revenue and related direct expenses. The hotel controller and the General Manager, therefore, have to revise this budget. Forecasting room revenue In order to predict room revenue, the Front Office manager considers the historical financial data such as past room revenue, past number of rooms sold, past average daily rate and past occupancy rates. Thus, compare and contrast for a better decision making. Forecasting direct expenses Owing to the fact that the Front Office manager is responsible only for his or her department direct expenses, that is, variable costs; the Front Office manager consult past financial data showing variable costs to room revenue ratios, in order to estimate department expenses. Refining budget plans If ever the external strong factors change considerably, in an unpredicted way, then the actual operating budgeted figures have to be revised. Evaluating Front Office Operations A successful Front Office manager has to continuously evaluate the outcomes of the department activities on a daily, monthly, quarterly and yearly basis. While evaluating, the following items and tools have to be considered: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Daily operations report; for example Room move report à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Occupancy ratios à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Rooms revenue analysis à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Hotel income statement; for example Early breakfast sale à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Rooms division income statement or schedule; for example up-selling of rooms à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Rooms division budgets report à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Operating ratios and ratios standards Daily operations report This report is also known as the managers report, the daily report and the daily revenue report. It encloses a summary of the hotels financial activities during a 24 hour period. In addition, it assists as to reconcile cash, bank accounts and revenue and accounts receivable. Occupancy ratios Occupancy ratios measure the enhancement of the Front Office in selling the hotels guestrooms. Some common ratios that are used in the Front Office department are depicted below: i.Occupancy percentage = (Number of rooms occupied) divided by (Total number of rooms available for sale) ii.Multiple occupancy percentage = (Number of rooms occupied by more than one guest) divided by (Total number of rooms occupied) iii.Average guests per rooms sold = (Total number of guests) divided by (Total number of rooms sold) iv.Average daily rate = (Total rooms revenue) divided by (Total number of rooms sold) v.Average rate per guest = (Total rooms revenue) divided by (Total number of guests) Room revenue analysis One prime report to succeed control over room revenue is the room rate variance report, that is those rooms that have been sold at rates other than their rack rates, for instance, airline rate, corporate or commercial rates and so on Another form is the yield statistics, which is the ratio of the current revenue to the sum of the possible potential revenue if all rooms are sold at rack rates. Formula of Yield statistic is shown below: Yield statistic = (Actual room revenue) divided by (Potential room revenue) Hotel income statement This statement provides vital financial data about the outcomes of hotel operations for a given period of time. Room division income statement The room division income statement also known as a schedule has to be referenced on the hotels income statement. Furthermore, the room division schedule has to be prepared by the hotels financial division not by the hotels Front Office accounting agent, that is, the Night Auditors. Room division budget reports These reports are monthly budget form comparing to current revenue and expenses figures against budgeted amounts depicted both in Euro values and percentage variances. Operating ratios Operating ratios for instance occupancy ratios, yield statisticsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ assist managers in evaluating the success of the Front Office operations. In addition, for the ratios to be meaningful they should be compared against proper standards such as prior periods, competitors or budgeted ratios. Front Office Operations A need for communication exists to communicate with other managers and staffs working other shifts. The reservation area is the sales department of the Front Office, thus a revenue center for the department in the sense that reservations determine on occupancy levels. The Front desk staffs must compulsory alert the guests when their credit limit is exceeding. Lastly, the Front Office staff should take the check-out as an opportunity to offer the guest supplementary services; for example, proposing the guest to book a room in the hotel for the future. (Vallen, J.J. 1985) Night audit, reception and Guest Relation are an essential element of Front Office department and claimed to be revenue generating department. The Guest Relation Officers have to convince the guests to accept upgrades. (Jones, C and Paul, V. 1993). There has to be a control process system to monitor the performance objectives targeted. Furthermore, the Front Office controls its cash or revenue sales. Interdepartmental Communication The Front Office staffs cooperate with all departments of the hotel including marketing and sales, housekeeping, food and beverage, banquet, controller, maintenance, security and human resources. Each department has a different kind of communication with the Front liners. These departments view the Front Office as a communication connection in providing guest services. The Front Office is a clearinghouse for communication activities. Marketing and Sales department The marketing and sales department depends on the Front Office to provide data on guest histories or concerning guests prior visit. The guest history is a valuable resource for marketing and sales as it uses the guest registration information to target marketing campaigns, develop promotions, prepare mailing labels and select appropriate advertising media. Housekeeping department Communications between the Front Office and the Housekeeping department is vital as it revolves around room status. Team members of the Housekeeping department provide a room status report to the Front Office department. Thus, follow-up can be done easily through this report. Food and Beverage department There are handovers which are used to communicate a charge to a guests account. It is essential that the Food and Beverage department communicates with the Front Office department to know the meal plan of the guests. This is to charge the guests accordingly prior to their meal plan they paid for. Through interdepartmental communication, information is spread out to all the departments so as to communicate effectively for an enhancement situation of the hotel and to increase revenue. It is also essential for a better planning of work. Intradepartmental communication Communication within the department is essential for a better planning of work. After planning the goals and objectives for the success of the Front Office operation, it is important that all the Front Liners work together and communicate effectively to deliver a proper task. Through effective communication, the Front Liners may achieve their aims and increase their revenue in the operations. The team spirits and understanding are the prime factors to be considered for the enhancement of the Front Office department. There has to be an interaction between the Front Office manager, the supervisors and the Front Liners so as to determine the root of the problem and therefore find solutions to remedy the situations. Interdepartmental exchange of information is crucial to attain goals and objectives. Barriers resulting to a decrease in sales revenue Decrease in sales revenue leads to unsuccessful operations of the hotel. There is lack of co-operation between departments which results to barriers of communication. A decrease in arrival of tourists results to a negative outcome concerning a raise in revenue. That is, a low demand leads to low revenue for instance, a decrease in room sales, products and services revenue. The problem root comes primarily from the reservation department. There may be barriers in departments such as Financial department, Food and Beverage department and housekeeping department relating to sales. For instance, if a guest has an Half Board voucher and that on the opera system it is All-inclusive it creates confusion to the departments concerned. The All-inclusive minibar and that of the Half Board is completely different. If the Housekeeping, Food and Beverage and Financial departments are not advised or change the guests meal plan on the system by the Front Liners, may create loss in revenue. Lack of t raining procedures concerning up-selling will not increase sales revenue. The lack of skills does not convince the employees to make upselling. There may as well conflicts in different tariffs charged to guests for example; a Front Liner may charge a guest Rs 200 instead of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬200 resulting to a huge decrease in sales revenue. Ways to remedy the barriers relating to a decrease in sales revenue Through effective communication, there may be an increase in sales revenue and a successful department. It is important to maximize rates when demand is high but if demand is low, special promotional package has to offer to guests to increase the demand. The Front Office manager has to well-trained the Front Liners to understand the meaning of yield management and how to increase sales or ensure sales revenue. The Front Office management has to set objectives to increase sales revenue and thus discuss with various departments of the hotel. Through these strategies, there is co-operation among the departments for successful revenue generated. Front Liners have to communicate effectively and efficiently to departments such as Food and Beverage, Financial and Housekeeping concerning the guests meal plan. Training allows team members to be successful in delivering good sales techniques. It is vital that each department provides training facilities and procedures to the employees so as to learn the methods to increase the sales revenue. The employees should be product knowledgeable; thus promote more profits and the staffs have to attentive when taking payment from guests. Questions have to be asked properly concerning the booking for accommodation and meal plan when guest reserved a room. It is important to keep a record concerning the financial transactions so as the Financial department may evaluate the ways to remedy the barriers relating to a decrease in sales revenue. Its not always easy and often takes a lot of determination. But making an effort to remove the obstacles tangible and intangible that stand in our way, can be the key to building relationship that really works by Eric Garner Yield Management Yield Management is a demand forecasting technique used to maximize room revenue that the hotel industry borrowed from the airlines. It is based on the economics of supply and demand, which means that price rise when demand is strong and drop when demand is weak. Thus, the purpose of yield management is to increase profitability. Yield management allocates the right type of aptitude to the right customer at the right price so as to maximize revenue or yield per available room. (Kimes, S.E, 1989) Yield management will monitor reservations and based on previous trends. Existing demand determines the number and type of rooms to sell at what price to obtain the maximum revenue. The yield management program will monitor the demand and supply and recommend the number and type of rooms to sell for a given day including the price for which to sell each room. Planning sales revenue The Front Office plays a vital role in promoting sales and the Front Office manager has to develop and implement a plan to the utmost to increase sales opportunities to the Front Office agents. This plan focus on areas of promotions, developing objectives and procedures, incentive programs, training program for staffs, budgets and tracking systems for employee feedback and profitability. Moreover, planning yield management includes setting up objectives, evaluating alternatives, drawing up budgets and developing an evaluation tool for feedback. The plan has to be discussed with the General Manager, department managers and Front Liners from different department to attain goals and objectives. The team members have to ensure that the profitable plan is accordingly developed. According to Narula, (Feb 1987), some goals were provided to the Front Office employees to increase sales. The following are depicted below à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Sell rooms to the guests who have not make prior reservations. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Upgrade is to be made to the guests so as to boost the customers to purchase higher priced product or service; to those guests having former reservations. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Maintain the record of the rooms. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Convey information about the product facilities available in the premises for sale, for instance, Food and Beverage and other facilities. The objective of the Font Office employees is to sell all facilities and benefits available at the hotel. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ensure that the maximum revenue is generated from the sale of rooms by prominent a stability between overbooking and a full house. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Achieve guest feedback Planning can only be started if there an increase of communication between Front Liners and Marketing and Sales department. It is essential to formulate an effective marketing strategy when there is a change in the market conditions. The eventual goal of a sales-oriented Front Office is to increase revenue from room sales, Food and Beverage sales and sales in various departments. The Front Office and other departments of the hotel have to plan on how much to increase revenue to accomplish the objectives set. Before decision making, several questions have to ask for a better planning of revenue management. Each moment new objectives has to plan for future months to generate revenue. When developing and implementing a program to increase sales activities, the Front Office manager along with other department managers and employees, have to identify products and services to promote. A list of services and products to be promoted is shown in the annex. Evaluating sales Yield management in Front Office Operations The Front Office team members have to determine which concepts to produce in order to increase sales re

The Processes Managing Risk With Vulnerable People Social Work Essay

The Processes Managing Risk With Vulnerable People Social Work Essay This assignment will explore assessment processes and the management of risk in the protection of a vulnerable person. I will provide a brief case study and discuss how assessments and risk management has been applied to this individual case. This assignment will look at different theories and legislation that impact on risk management in social work and the field of child protection. The case study that I have chosen to discuss is a case that I have held for two years. X is a four year old child who currently lives with his mother Ms X. Xs name has been on Wrexhams Child Protection Register for three years under the category risk of emotional harm due to concerns regarding Ms Xs criminal behaviours and drug misuse and the impact that this has on the care that she can provide. Ms X has two older children and there were concerns that she was unable to meet the needs of these children due to the same issues. Ms Xs eldest child spent ten years of his life in the care of the Local Authority, which sadly included over twenty different foster placements. He is now serving a custodial sentence and holds a lot of resentment towards his mother for the way that he was parented and his inappropriate life experiences. Ms Xs second child was placed for adoption at an early age following the undertaking of assessments by different professionals, who felt that X was unable to ap propriately care for the child. It has been assessed that Ms Xs care of X is of a higher standard than the care of her older children, however there are still aspects of this that are considered to be a risk to Xs emotional well being. Ms X has been unable to care for X for significant periods of his life as a result of serving three custodial sentences, the last being for a period of five months. During these periods X has been cared for appropriately by a family member, although has been extremely distressed and unsettled. This last incident of Ms X being arrested and imprisoned raised further concerns for Xs sense of stability and emotional well being. As a result a meeting was arranged with the Local Authoritys Solicitor and Head of Service to determine whether the risk to X was to the extent that Care Proceedings would need to be considered. Looking at a persons history can allow different opinions and judgements to be formed, this history is also included as part of current risk assessments. In the field of child protection social work risk is usually viewed as being negative and something that needs to be minimised or prevented. The concept of risk is very difficult to define; this is a result of it being ambiguous and contestable. The definition of it will rely on the situational context, field of application and the perspectives undertaken. Risk became a dominant preoccupation within Western society towards the end of the20th century, to the point where we are now said to live in a risk society (Beck,1992), with an emphasis on uncertainty, individualisation and culpability. When defining risk it is often done in mathematical and probabilistic terms as a result of it relating to the expected losses which can be caused by a risky event and the probability of this event happening. It is mapped to the probability of an event which is seen as undesirable. When the loss is harsher in relation to the likelihood of the event then the risk will be worse. This negative conception of risk as risk avoidance or risk aversion can be contrasted with the more positive account based on risk taking in venture capitalism and finance as a measure of the variance of possible outcomes. The systematic management of actuarial risk is risk management while the methodology for evaluating for evaluating is risk assessment. Across different professions techniques and methods used for managing and assessing risk can vary considerably. The resulting effect is that some professions, such as social work, are defined according to their ability and propensity to deal with risk. Kemshall (2002) argued that social work is predominantly concerned with handling and assessing risk instead of focusing on social need and justice. It is argued in Social Work in a Risk Society that, as a response to risk, the reconfigurations between state, politics, science and people are particularly felt in world of social work (Webb, 2006). The reasoning for this is due to the vulnerable, dangerous and challenging populations under conditions of great uncertainty and crisis which social work invariably deals with. Due to this the opportunity for situations that present a risk are greater. The resulting effect is that social work role attempts to develop more extensive risk management and actuarial systems for trying to control this risk. (www.socwork.net). The current risk to Xs emotional well being has been documented through an individual child protection plan and support services identified. This plan is reviewed on a monthly basis through multi agency core group meetings. These meetings ensure that all agencies and the family have updated information regarding Xs circumstances and are aware when issues arise that may be seen to increase the risk to Xs emotional well being. The regular meetings also ensure that professionals and family members are included in decision making, such as presenting the recent concerns to a legal planning meeting. It is important that the information was gained from agencies involved in the process and that their views were respected. I was aware that different professionals had their own view about what was going on and how this impacted upon X. I did not take these views as a fact but assessed the information that was received. I understand that different professionals and organisations can have different means of assessing risk. This can be challenging when making decisions and plans. In this particular case, when Ms X received a custodial sentence there were professionals that felt that the risk to Xs emotional well being was immediate. Other professionals did not see the risk as being immediate as there was an appropriate family member to care for X when Ms X was arrested. The category of risk to the child appears to be a factor in the assessments that are made. Despite efforts to refocus childrens services away from a preoccupation with risk of significant harm towards supporting families to meet the needs of their children, the risk of immediate harm continues to take priority. In many of the case examples, the needs of children had been overlooked or resources were not available until risk of immediate harm was apparent. Indeed, the focus was on specific types of harm, children who were deemed at risk of physical or sexual abuse (i.e. immediate harm) caused more concern than those who were potentially at risk of neglect or emotional abuse. This was an issue that both service users and practitioners linked to near misses, as well as to more serious adverse incidents. (Bostock, L et al, 2005). Since the 1970s child protection work has become less optimistic and more reactive when in 1973 the death of Maria Colwell created a public outcry and preoccupation with retribution and blame (Parton, 1996). The abuse of children became something that social workers should be able to predict and prevent. Assessing risk is one of the main roles in the field of child protection which usually means trying to minimise and prevent potential and identified risks. Assessment has always been integral to social work practice. Since the 1990s there has been a steady increase in interest in the field of child care social work assessment. Its importance in social work practice is widely acknowledged. Assessments are undertaken by social workers to gain access to resources such as family support workers and funding and are also used to assess risk. Assessments are used by managers and Courts to inform the decision making process, consequently social work assessments can have a lasting and profound impact upon children and their families. Assessments can also include linking with other organisation liaising and negotiating using interpersonal and communication skills. For Thompson (2000) interventions can either challenge inequality or reinforce them it is therefore important to recognise inequalities and power imbalances and this can lead to empowerment through promoting equality. For Coulshed and Orme (2006) there is no understanding that the information gained from social work intervention and assessments might be interpreted in many different ways, depending on which theoretical approach is used. For OSullivan (2002) there is mounting pressure to base decisions on research evidence but he believes there are serious failings in this approach. Therefore OSullivan (2002) believes that research studies need to have a supportive rather than significant role in relation to decision making. Evidence based practice and relevant theories should inform social work practice when assessing risk. For this particular case I researched attachment theories and the impact that separation could have on X as a result of his mothers imprisonment. Bowlbys attachment theory which Beckett (2005) uses to look at how early life experiences on childrens affect long term psychological development. Research suggests that insecure attachments in childhood can also have a negative impact on behaviour in childhood and throughout adult life. Bowlby (in Crawford and Walker, 2005) believed that the prolonged separation of the child from their mother, especially in the first 5 years of their life could cause m ental health issues in later life. These include oppositional-deviant disorder(ODD), conduct disorder(CO) or post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD) all of which have been linked to early traumatic experiences, including abuse or neglect. (http://psychology.about.com) However as Crawford and Walker argue there have been criticisms of early thinking of attachment theory as children can make attachments to other people not just their mother. These may include extended family members. Crawford and Walker (2004) believe that as social workers we must consider how life experiences may have influence on the individuals growth and development. Throughout my involvement with X in assessing risk and devising plans I have ensured that his individual life experiences were considered. I was aware that X has previously been separated from his mother for a significant period, which could lead to the conclusion that Xs attachment to his mother was already insecure. When completing risk assessments the long and short term affects of the identified risk need to be explored, this ensures that the social worker can gain a bigger picture of how the identified risk could have an impact on the persons life. I have explored different information and research regarding the effects of parental incarceration and ensured that the family and other professionals involved in the case had access to this information. There have been a variety of long-term effects on children identified which are associated with the incarceration of parents, one example is the childs level of development. Even if a child-parent attachment has already developed, for example as in the case of infants in the first 9 to 12 months of there lives that have been in either their mothers or fathers care, the disruption caused by parental incarceration will likely have an adverse affect on the quality of their attachment to their parents. (Parke et al 2001). The quality of infant or toddler child-parent attachment can even be impacted by even less drastic changes such as divorce, or moving home (www.hhs.gov). Insecure attachments between parents and children, which is believed to be a consequence from adverse changes in ones life circumstances, have been linked to a variety of negative outcomes for the child; these include diminished cognitive abilities and poorer peer relationships (Parke et al 2001). In light of this info rmation it is not surprising that when their parents are serving custodial sentences, it has been observed for young children between the ages of 2 and 6 years of age to suffer from a range of adverse outcomes which are consistent with research on the effects of insecure attachments (Johnson, 1995). One estimates states that 70% of young children whose mothers were in prison had emotional or psychological problems. Children are said to exhibit internalising problems, such as, depression, anxiety, withdrawal, guilt and shame (Bloom Steinhart, 1993; Dressler et al, 1992, cited in Parke et al, 1992). It has been documented that young children are also at risk of externalizing worrying behaviors such as anger, aggression towards caregivers and siblings (Fishman, 1983 cited in Parke et al 2001). Since the Children Act 1989 was implemented in October 1991 there has been a debate between the appropriate emphasis of social work practice in terms of risk and need. This has been closely linked to the centrality of the assessment with social work gaining momentum. Within the act there is no definition for the term risk, child protection is instead constructed with the term significant harm. Under s.31(9) of the Children Act 1989: harm means ill-treatment or the impairment of health or development; development means physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development; health means physical or mental health; and ill-treatment includes sexual abuse and forms of ill-treatment which are not physical. (Brammer 2007) Within risk assessments in social work the term risk has been associated with the negativity of harm and child death (Parton 2000). This mixed with the blame culture that is present in todays society has an impact on the way in which risks are viewed in the field of child protection. Due to the complexity, and the protracted nature of the work, most social work is of little interest to the media and the wider public. Social work stories only become of interest when major failures occur in the system. (Wroe, 1988). Social workers have been very publicly named and shamed in the aftermath of the tragic Baby P case, one newspapers headline stating Blood on their hands. The Sun newspaper appeared to lay the blame almost exclusively on the heads of social workers, launching a petition calling for every social worker who had been involved in the case to be sacked and prevented from working with children again (Brody 2009). The Baby P case was shocking and serious mistakes were made, this has created a fear amongst social workers of making mistakes regarding the risk to a child. Social workers and other professionals are now more aware of the negative implications of risk. Following the death of Baby Peter the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCA SS, 2009 in Parton, 2010) produced figures which demonstrated a nearly 50 per cent increase in care applications in the second half of 2008-09 and the demand for care continue to remain at a unprecedented high level. Assessment is a fundamental skill in social work interventions; it is more than collecting information and is a process rather than an event, which you return to again and again. Therefore it was important to be aware when new information was brought forward regarding the family it was included and the assessment was updated. It acts as a basis for intervention and can form clear objectives. It is important to recognise that there may be multiple problems and all need to be taken into account. Legislation and policy requirement needs to be taken account of, both locally and nationally. Strengths as well as weaknesses need to be assessed. I had to take these into account whilst continuous assessments were being carried out to gain a clear understanding of the bigger picture, as identified in National Framework Triangle (2000). It is important that children have the right to have their voices heard and to be included in the decisions that affect their lives. It is crucial to engage with the children in the family in order to establish if they are in need or at risk of significant harm. Throughout the period that I have been allocated as the social worker to X I had considerable power to make decisions which would affect the family such as judging whether they were eligible for service, therefore there is a power imbalance. For Milner and OByrne (1998) power within social work practice can be used to empower others when working in an anti oppressive way, if power is used incorrectly it can exclude and marginalise service users. As a social worker I was seen as the expert, the service user according to Thompson (2000), by therefore occupies a more powerful position. For Morris (2000) the Framework for the Assessment of Children and their Families (DoH, 2002) is targeted at a professional audience which means that service users are not provided with guidance about what they can expect as best practice in assessment or what the minimum standards are. This means for Morris (2000) the development of a working partnership or effective participation is limited as only the social worker has the guidance needed and the information about the service that is offered. For Milner and OByrne (1998) power within social work practice can be used to empower others when working in an anti oppressive way, if power is used incorrectly it can exclude and marginalise service users. As a social worker I was seen as the expert, the service user according to Thompson (2000), by therefore occupies a more powerful position. Due to Ms X being female I looked at how gender affects the issue of drug misuse and offending. An awareness of gender difference should play a key role according to Barnes and Norma (1992), in understanding and responding to needs. But a women centred approach cannot ignore the experiences which divide and separate women as well as uniting them. For example black women in the UK will be affected by cultural differences, racism and in some cases language difficulties as well as by sexism. Barnes and Norma (1992) believe that there is considerable evidence to show that women are more likely to be identified as experiencing emotional problems. Mental disorders amongst women are often identified as behaviours which deviate from what is regarded as normal female behaviour. New and emerging radical values concerned with challenging oppression are very distinct from traditional values as described in the Code of Practice which emphasise individualised relationship between the social worker and the service user.. We must decide whether to interpret values traditionally as a commitment to respect for people, equal opportunity and meeting needs or radically as a concern with social rights, equality and citizenship. Though there should be no presumptions that the emergence of new values or the development of traditional ones will lead to changes in professional practice. If there is no organisational backing or changed professional education, practice is likely to remain unchanged. Risk assessment methods in the field of child protection continue to be criticised for being time consuming and being overly actuarial. Accountability in child protection social work tends to focus on the family, as opposed to external factors, such as poverty in terms of neglect (www.northerncja.org.uk). It must be highlighted that risk can be defined differently dependant on the individual completing the risk assessment. Differing agencies and workers have different values, cultures, interpretations and language relating to risk. I am aware that the thresholds of risk vary not only across agencies but within agencies (Brown and White 2006). As highlighted by (Barry 2007) social workers with more experience may operate a higher risk threshold than their more recently trained colleagues. Throughout my involvement with X and his family sought advice from colleagues, managers and the Local Authority Solicitors when required and advised to do so. Prior to the use of risk assessments the child protection system could have been seen to be ineffective. Risk assessments usually require the social work to contact all other agencies that the child is known to. According to (Parsloe 1999) In the pre risk assessment days inter agency communication was lacking compared to todays standards and because of this children were harmed or even killed, who otherwise could have been saved. The introduction of child protection case conferences has ensured that information between agencies is shared and acted on appropriately, which will undoubtedly improve the quality of assessing risk. In the case of X child protection case conferences allowed recommendations to be made to all professionals involved which aimed to minimise the risk to X. The case conferences reviews also ensure that any recommendations and actions have been completed by professionals and the parents. As highlighted in (community care.co.uk) child protection case conferences have greatly improved communication between agencies, resulting in the risk posed to a child being reduced considerably. In conclusion, it must be noted that assessing risk in the field of child protection has improved greatly since its introduction. Social workers now have various documents and theories designed to determine the different risks that affect vulnerable children. The importance of inter agency communication is now highlighted in policies and procedures that social workers must adhere to. Recent media attention directed at social workers has undoubtedly created a fear amongst not only social workers but other professionals in allowing and promoting risk taking. This has resulted in an increase in the referrals received by childrens services and an increase in childrens names being placed on the child protection register of the Local Authority that I am employed by. The different categories that risk is defined under has an impact of the action that is taken by social workers and other professionals. This essay has highlighted the issue that the risk of neglect or emotional harm is not see n to be as urgent as a child that is at risk of sexual or physical harm. I am conscious that risks that are identified can vary depending on the individual that is assessing the risk. I am aware that as a social worker it is important that I recognise my own values and how this could impact an assessment that I complete.

Literature and the Middle Ages Essay -- Middle Age Literature

Literature and the Middle Ages The Renaissance invented the Middle Ages in order to define itself; the Enlightenment perpetuated them in order to admire itself; and the Romantics revived them in order to escape from themselves. In their widest ramifications 'the Middle Ages' thus constitute one of the most prevalent cultural myths of the modern world. -- Brian Stock, Listening for the Text. The Middle Ages is a time of hypothesis wherein one of the most hypothetical concepts is time. The present essay addresses time as a conceptual and historical problem, in literary, religious, and practical terms. The interested student will find here valuable information on the origins of French literature, how the Middle Ages got its name, theological and everyday measurements of time, and the relationships of myth and fiction to genealogy in the founding of aristocratic families and feudal dynasties. Somewhere between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance there was a middle time. During this period, the French language was born from the cradle of latinity. The ninth century, in fact, provides us with the first testimonies of what will become the language of French literature. Indeed, in the year 813, the emergence of the importance and widespread use of vernacular language in Europe is marked by the Council of Tours which, by giving priests the right to pronounce sermons in the common tongue ("rusticam"), particularly in French ("gallicam") and German ("teudiscam"), sought to mediate a crisis in preaching by closing the linguistic gap that had developed between the clergy and the lay people. Moreover, on 14 February 842, the Strasbourg Oaths renewed the military and political alliance between Louis the German a... ...500. Vol. XI/1 of Grundriss der Romanischen Literaturen des Mittelalters. Eds. Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, et al. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universittsverlag, 1986. 135-156. Duggan, Joseph J. "The Experience of Time as a Fundamental Element of the Stock of Knowledge in Medieval Society." In Gumbrecht, et al. 127-134. Eco, Umberto. Travels in Hyperreality. Trans. William Weaver. San Diego, New York, London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986. Edelman, Nathan. "The Early Uses of Medium Aevum, Moyen Age, Middle Ages." The Eye of the Beholder. Ed. Jules Brody. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974. 58-81. Gourï ¿ ½vitch, Aaron J. Les Catï ¿ ½gories de la culture mï ¿ ½diï ¿ ½vale. Trans. Hï ¿ ½lï ¿ ½ne Courtin, Nina Godneff. Paris: Gallimard, 1983. Stock, Brian. Listening for the Text: On the Uses of the Past. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990.

Anagnorisis and Existence (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) :: essays research papers

Anagnorisis and Existence The Point of Realization in Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the young prince realizes what living is. Yea, from the table of my memory I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, 105 All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, That youth and observation copied there; And thy commandment all alone shall live Within the book and volume of my brain, Unmix'd with baser matter (Hamlet, I, v. 104-110) Upon realizing his fate – that he must save the â€Å"state of Denmark† – Hamlet must literally discard his prior knowledge and start anew. Aristotle argues that the exact moment when Hamlet realizes his fate – by moving from innocence and ignorance to knowledge – is the cause of tragedy in drama. Aristotle’s calls this realization that all humans must have anagnorisis. For all the moaning and a whining about his situation, Hamlet will fight whatever is â€Å"rotten in the State of Denmark.† (Hamlet, I, iv, 67) Though this self discovery is integral in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Stoppard’s two characters do not even address their fate. And, the result of this lack of action and lack of any anagnorisis in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead when framed against the proactive Hamlet, Fortinbras and Laertes is an interesting commentary on human beings’ reactions to mortality. Death is not romantic, and death is not a game which will soon be over†¦ Death is not anything†¦ death is not†¦ It’s the absence of presence, nothing more†¦ the endless time of never coming back†¦ a gap you can’t see, and when the wind blows through it, it makes no sound. (R&D, 124) To Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, death is lying in a box – bored. Their inability to comprehend death’s complexity stems from the fact that even when alive, they are hardly present, barely hanging onto their existence. If we stopped breathing we’d vanish. (R&D, 112) Part of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s lack of existence is Stoppard’s emphasis on the seeming interchangeability of their identities. However, whereas in Hamlet the King, Gertrude and Hamlet mistake the two for each other, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern actually mistake themselves. Their lack of identity leaves the two characters as not human – they literally do nothing and do not develop. It is for that reason that, though they discover their fate, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern literally cannot die: they don’t actually exist. So, when the time comes for their fate to catch up to them, they literally disappear.

Marriage in A Doll House and A Streetcar Named Desire Essay -- compare

A couple’s marriage along with their struggles and problems can tell us a lot about their individual morals and what type of people they are. How someone handles themselves when they are in a battle or argument with their spouse can show the reader the person they are, their strengths, weaknesses and even their outlook on life. In these plays we are shown Torvald Helmer and Stanley Kowalksi’s ways of controlling their wives, their strengths, weaknesses and outlooks on life, or morals just by their actions. In A Doll House written in 1879 by Henrik Ibsen and in A Streetcar Named Desire written in 1947 by Tennessee Williams we are shown two different husbands, Torvald Helmer and Stanley Kowalksi that have an issue with having to be in control of their wives and their lives. In A Doll House we see a marriage between Torvald and Nora Helmer. Torvald is a major character in the play because he is the person that helps make the conflict of his wife Nora not wanting to tell him about the loan she took out and that she forged her father’s name in order to do it. Ibsen brings the issue of power in this marriage by always having Torvald in charge or the marriage. Torvald is a man that looks at his wife as an object and something that benefits him. He doesn’t really have a deep love for her, but instead is married to her because she is young and beautiful and society accepts and likes married men better than single men. He is very protective of his image and he always wants to look perfect and be perceived as perfect from other people, and Nora helps him achieve this. Torvald takes the role of the ruler, the spouse in charge by treating Nora like a child or a play toy, calling her names like â€Å"pet†, â€Å"squirrel†, or â€Å"Ca pri girl†. He also t... ...y made himself look out of hand himself and he also showed his lack of respect for Stella. In A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen and in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams we are shown two different husbands, Torvald Helmer and Stanley Kowalksi that have an issue with having to be in control of their wives and their lives. Torvald has to be in charge of everything in his life including his wife and in his job so that society will look at him as a â€Å"well off† man and he will always be looked at as stable and in control of every situation. Stanley is somewhat the same, needing to be in charge of his wife and how she acts so that his friends will look at him as â€Å"the tough guy that keeps his wife in line†. In both of these plays we are shown the husband’s strengths and the wives weaknesses and how their conflicts and the husband’s actions affect their marriages.

British TV Drama :: essays papers

British TV Drama To what extent has British television drama contributed to a public discourse on major political and social issues, both in the recent past and during the 1960s. Please draw on specific examples in presenting your argument. In this essay I will discuss how political and social issues have been raised in British television drama and also how they relate to public discourse in Britain. I will discuss TV dramas such as Our Friends in the North, Talking to a Stranger, Cathy Come Home, and Boys from the Blackstuff. There are various issues, which could be identified as social and political in a TV drama, some of them are race, ethnicity, class and gender. Most people are influenced by television, believing what they see to be ‘real’ so it is useful to make a successful programme on hard-hitting issues as it will have deep impact on the audience. From the mid-50s on there has been an increase in original TV drama with a broader appeal. The preference for original drama was a reaction to the theatre’s preoccupation with middle-class concerns. So the ‘angry young men’ playwrights were established. They wrote about ‘real’ issues, about ‘problems faced by the members of a broader audience in their daily lives’. This can be seen in the 1960s, with the arrival of innovative dramas such as Cathy Come Home and Talking to a Stranger. In the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s programmers were taking risks allowing new talent space to grow, but now TV drama tends to be more genre-based. Jeremy Sandford’s Cathy Come Home (1966) bought the issue of homelessness into the public’s eye by showing Cathy’s slide into poverty and despair. Cathy Come Home is ‘deeply concerned about aspects of our society and deals with the plight of the unfortunate, the misunderstood, the ignored’. Policies were promptly changed after this programme was aired; the homeless charity ‘Shelter’ formed four days after Cathy Come Home was screened. Cathy Come Home used an innovative documentary style by using lightweight cameras and by taking the action out of the studio. The director Ken Loach rejected the used of the studio and instead opted for 16mm film. Cathy Come Home offered ‘a harsh and jarring realism which depended on energetic editing, creative use of sound and dialogue, and techniques borrowed from documentary.